China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the country's biggest oil
and gas producer, signed a 30-year contract Tuesday with U.S.
Chevron Corp. to jointly develop a large gas field in southwest
China's Sichuan province.
The 1,969-square-kilometer gas field, located in the
northeastern part of Sichuan, has proven reserves of 175.97 billion
cubic meters, making the CNPC-Chevron cooperation China's largest
inland exploration project participated by a foreign explorer, said
a statement from CNPC.
CNPC will hold a 51-percent interest of the project, while
Chevron takes 49 percent, according to the product-sharing
contract.
CNPC general manager Jiang Jiemin said that the cooperation
would enable his company to make full use of Chevron's expertise in
developing high-sulfur gas fields.
Developing the gas field would help CNPC meet the rising demand
for natural gas in the domestic market, he said.
"The signing of the contract demonstrates our worldwide focus on
large-scale exploration and production projects, and our long-term
strategy to grow our business in China," Chevron CEO Dave O'Reilly
said in a statement.
Chinese major oil and gas companies have discovered big gas
fields in Sichuan. Sinopec's Puguang gas field, with proven
reserves of 356 billion cubic meters by the end of last year, will
be used to feed a pipeline from Sichuan to Shanghai, which will be
completed in 2010.
Although China's natural gas output is predicted to reach 94
billion cubic meters in 2010 from last year's 58.6 billion cubic
meters, the country will still need imports to fill a gap of 16
billion cubic meters annually.
(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2007)
